Well, I can see why painters go barmy now. There is so much preparation involved that even with the decision to go with a spray application, the time involved in sanding, and preparing, and sanding (in between coats), and preparing, and sanding makes one go “aaarrrggghhh!!!”

It’s not so much the flat bits, but now that I’m working so intimately on each bit, I have discovered that there are so many detailed fiddly bits. Still, I went with a Wagner branded airless spray gun from Bunnies Warehouse. The first was a W450 at $200 which worked for about 20 minutes then died. During the its meagrely short life, it spattered and splatted unsatisfactorily leaving big and small blobs alike all over the place.

After its demise, I exchanged it with the good people of Bunnies for the $80 less W560. Whereas the W450 has a piston type mechanism, the W560 has a small hair drier type power unit to pressurise and propel the paint. I struggled for a while but then discovered that unlike the W450, the W560 has no inlet valve strainer, so chunks of paint bristles, chipboard, dried acrylic and other assorted floaties had made their way into and blocked the nozzle.

A quick clean, some fresh paint and we were underway again. I must say that, having seen the TARDIS in raw timber for so long, a coat of paint drastically changes the appearance of the construction.